Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter,

I have a tfsa account and I buy mostly blue chip companies and hold them for dividend and appreciation. Is it a good idea to write covered calls and earn additional income while the stock sits in your tfsa

Q: The Globe had a link to an article that described US shale oil producers as facing a "debt bomb" due to low oil prices, declining cash flow and high debt. The article predicts a serious meltdown in the first half of 2016. My question relates to the impact this could have on US banks? My ETF has been doing ok, and I expect banks to be favoured by rising interest rates. I suppose this question could be extended to other commodity areas and Canadian banks as well. Do you see significant risk in banking in the near term due to debt failure? Thanks

Q: Guys is it finally time to give up and dump this? Am down 40%

Thanks
BD

Q: Hi Peter and Gang,

I currently have positions in CSU and GIB.A and they represents 2.5% and 3.5% of my portfolio respectively. My gains on CSU are approximately 220% and I am thinking of liquidating my entire CSU position and put the proceeds on DH (I'll stay put on GIB.A). Just wondering what your thoughts are on this move.

On November 17, in your response to a question raised by a 5i member on DH, you commented that the stock was 14x earning, is this ratio still accurate?

Regards,
Harry

Q: Hello,
Have you any idea why cmh is down 6.60% this morning? I can't find any news that could account for it.

thank you

Q: Can you explain why U.S. preferred share ETFs like PGF and PFF have considerably outperformed their Canadian counterparts such as CPD and ZPR ? Thanks, Joe

Q: I am thinking of buying 5,000 shares of Chesapeake Energy, now down close to 80%, and just holding and forgetting about this investment for five years. What do you think of this plan?
Thanks.

Q: Hi folks,I know FM/t has app $6B debt I believe but was wondering if they are near any debt covenants any time soon,I heard that was reason acq/t had to raise money as they were near breaking some debt covenants. Is fm/t in any similar situation. Thanks again and just renewed 2 years for great service,jb

Q: Maybe this is not an easy question to answer, but when you say a particular stock is cheap or very cheap how do you determine this? Also, how would you determine if a stock is cheap AND high quality? Thanks!

Q: I am considering buying the new Westcoast minimum rate RR issue once issued. Because it is owned by Spectra and just has pref shares O/S I have had difficulty finding much on financials. If possible, could you please comment on creditworthiness, safety of pref dividends and payout ratio if possible. Would you recommend it for very safe income. Thanks.

Q: If most of the present value of Trimac is in the current 5% dividend as stated in your report and it's over 3 years since a raise, what are the prospects for an increase with any upturn in the economy? To me buybacks, even initial ones, don't line my pocket like a dividend bump. For dividend payers such as this one would be possible to have the 5 year dividend growth rate shown in the report card as this info is not always easy to find on a company's website.

Also I wonder what is the probability of TMA going private since the management owns such a big chunk and the US operation is already private, presumably owned by this management. My charts on this co. only go back to 2005, if that's when it went public as an Income Trust, it must have been about $12, so I guess it would be a take-under around half that. Or could the much larger TFI be interested at this level?

Not sure how your report arrives at a revenue increase 1 year out as revenue has been declining in 2015. How about the age of their fleet and what is the replacement rate/timetable? I see they already have high debt.

Willing to hold on for a few years if need be but willing to take my lumps too if surgery needs to be done here.
Thanks, J.

Q: Good morning,

Further to my question on the 2 covered call ETF's of BMO. I have just learned that ZWA is currency hedged and ZWH apparently is not although it trades in Cdn dollars.. Does that affect your response. I really prefer the dividend growers but not sure of the impact of the un-hedged ETF. I would appreciate your input.

Ted

Q: this question is about rebalancing for "balanced positions" and those for "small cap growth positions" within an overall portfolio.

for example, ATD.B in the balanced portion of the overall portfolio now has a market value of about $25,000 or 5% of the overall portfolio.
as it understand the i5R investment approach, when it reachs 7%, then I would sell some ATD.B share to get back to a 5% weight, right?!

now for the small cap growth positions…..with the position cost being $2,500…..or about 0.5% of the overall portfolio,
what is the rebalancing rule of thumb?……..do I hold until a small cap growth stock gets to $25,000, or to some lesser amount that is less than the 7% of the overall portfolio???

Q: Hi Peter & Team,

In my RRIF, the only real estate holding is a position in FCR, which has been a nice "steady eddy".I'd like to add an "apartment" type REIT or real estate holding. I know you like TCN, but I see that they have some Alberta exposure. Which of the following would you suggest at this time for a position: TCN, MST.UN, or RUF.UN? (My feeling is that the apartment market might be better in the US, so that's why I've focused on these three names).

Thanks in advance for your valued suggestions.

Q: What are your thoughts on selling Goldcorp and Silver Wheaton (1.75% portfolio weight combined) to crystallize a tax loss and replacing with Franco-Nevada to maintain sector exposure? Thank-you.

Q: What is your opinion on ENB.TO 6 -12 months out ? It seems to be sliding to no end.

Q: Just a quick comment. You have commented in the past that too much news is negative and investors should avoid too much media and static. I get the e-mail on black Friday and it does cast a shadow of indecisiveness. The question is simple. Are you at 5I bullish or bearish on the next 12 months in a general sense? You don't have to be specific on sectors et. but rather how do you see the market (Canadian/US) I'm just simply trying to filter out all the news and concentrate on the big picture which you guys have a much better handle on than I have. Thanks for all the good work. Cheers

Q: When looking at 'insider trading', the following appears. Can you explain what it means?

38 - Redemption, retraction, cancellation, repurchase -

thanks

Q: I’m a bit surprised by your sell recommendation for Teck. A recent question by someone that had Teck in their RSP and wondered if they should sell, was answered with one word – “Yes”. I think they deserved a better answer.

You have earlier recommended Teck and I note that another advisory said back in August that Teck has a tangible book value of $29.59 a share. It’s Canada’s largest diversified resource company. Not just “evil” coal!

You’ve given excellent answers in the past re Teck and it wasn’t more than a month ago that you were suggesting patience. Maybe you can let us know what you’re reading for book value etc.

I recall buying Teck in 2008 at $3.40 per share. In 2011 it was trading at over $60.00 per share.

Patience grasshopper ;-)

Q: Hi,

You recently answered a question from Question: "Hi 5i: The stock market situation has changed a lot since I last did any rebalancing. Could you therefore tell me what weights you would now recommend for the 10 TSX sectors. Also, what sectors would you assign to MAL and BOS which Morningstar calls Basic Materials, and to DRT which Morningstar calls Services. Many thanks.
5i Research Answer:
These are general guidelines, and may vary somewhat from prior answers. Sector allocation needs to be highly personalized based on your needs and goals.
Info Tech: 15%
Industrial: 20%
Telecom: 5%
Financial: 15%
Utilities: 10%
Materials: 5%
Energy: 5%
Cons Staples: 5%
Health care: 10%
Cons. Discret. 10%"

Can you give me 2-3 stock picks for the next two to five years in some of those categories? Specifically...
Info tech.
Industrial
Financial.
Utilities
Consumer discretionary.
Healthcare.